(CNN) - Rep. Eric Cantor will relinquish his leadership position as the No. 2 House Republican, he announced Wednesday after losing his Virginia primary in a stunning upset.

"While I may have had suffered a personal setback last night, I couldn't be more optimistic about the future," he said at a news conference on Capitol Hill, calling for Republican unity ahead of November midterms.

"Now, while intend to serve out my term as member of Congress in the seventh district of Virginia, effective July 31, I will be stepping down as majority leader," he said.

(CNN) – Texas Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, member of the House Armed Services Committee, says the 5 Taliban prisoners swapped for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl pose a substantial threat to Americans. "Whether or not they will plot to attack us here at home, we know they will plot to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan," Thornberry said in an interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper. FULL POST

It's also apparently now for mind-scrambling political upsets. So what exactly is happening on the ground right now in old dominion, to allow for such a Shenandoah-rattling shake up?

Former governor of Virginia, former chairman of the Republican national committee, and president of the Free Congress Foundation Jim Gilmore and former U.S. congressman from Virginia and former NRCC chairman Tom Davis weigh in.

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